Urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa

du Toit, Marié J., Cilliers, Sarel S., Dallimer, Martin, Goddard, Mark, Guenat, Solène and Cornelius, Susanna F. (2018) Urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa. Landscape and Urban Planning, 180. pp. 249-261. ISSN 0169-2046

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.06.001

Abstract

Africa is urbanizing at an astonishing rate. To meet many of the Sustainable Development Goals there will be a requirement for cities in sub-Saharan Africa to plan for, and manage, the rapid rise in the urban population. Green infrastructure has the potential to provide multiple ecosystem services to benefit the urban population. The general objective of this review is to consolidate research undertaken on urban green infrastructure and the associated ecosystem services in sub-Saharan African cities. The 68 reviewed papers spanned 20 countries and included 74 urban areas. However, only 38% of sub-Saharan countries had any research carried out in them. The most represented ecosystem services were regulating and provisioning, with supporting services getting the least attention. Overall there was a lack of in-depth studies on all ecosystem services, especially supporting and cultural services. Seven overarching categories of barriers and challenges to the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services emerged from the reviewed papers, namely: (i) socio-cultural values, traditions and perceptions; (ii) lack of capacity; (iii) governance, urban planning and social inequality; (iv) lack of data and/or case studies; (v) ecosystem disservices; (vi) spatial trade-offs and conflicts; (vii) climate change. These barriers we identified will need to be addressed if the future, long-term sustainable provision of ecosystem services in sub-Saharan African cities is to be assured.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Green space, Challenges, Provisioning, Regulating, Supporting, Cultural
Subjects: F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
L700 Human and Social Geography
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 15 Oct 2019 10:58
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 00:17
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41111

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